Hope on the Range

by Cindi Madsen

  Harlow laughed. “I bet he was mighty grouchy about that.”

  “Oh, he was. But we got into a mud fight, and it all worked out in the end.” A dreamy expression overtook her features, and then she chuckled. “Anyway, that memory’s enough to make me want to hold on to the Corolla, but I also think it’d be good for Chloe to learn to appreciate an older vehicle—as long as she’s also safe driving it, which is why I’m so glad Maddox was willing to help.”

  As she aimed her smile his way, Maddox felt a slight tug of affection for her, too. Who even was he right now?

  “But the main reason is, when I was a disowned and pregnant sixteen-year-old, I scrimped and saved while working at a grocery store so I could buy that car. It was an old beater, but I paid for it myself, and I took that to mean I was strong enough to raise my baby by myself, too.” She gave them a pointed look. “Don’t get me wrong. It was hard and I don’t recommend anyone follow the path I did—seriously. Stay in school, use protection, do all the right things.”

  They both nodded. “Yes, Miss Jess,” Harlow added.

  “But that car is a symbol of what I was able to achieve during one of the hardest times in my life, and I’m not quite ready to let go of it yet.”

  “I know what that’s like,” Maddox said, surprising himself and, judging by the faces of the two women, them as well. “That’s how I feel about my motorcycle. It’s fun to drive, but it’s also the first thing I worked my”—he decided to keep it PG for the sweet girl at his side—“butt off for. It’s one of the few things no one gave me, only to take it away later. Well, till I ended up here, but it’s still mine. It’ll be there when I go back home.”

  Harlow nodded, a hint of sadness creeping into the curve of her smile. She was staring at him as though he were a stray puppy she wanted to take home. It wasn’t so much pity; more like she cared he’d had such a rough life. It tightened his throat and made it hard to breathe in the best possible way.

  “Exactly,” Jess croaked out around her emotions.

  “I’m almost done with the car.” A renewed sense of purpose filled him, too. He was going to make the vehicle run better than it had in years.

  “Thank you.” Jessica stood, picking up the now-empty plate as she did so. “I’ll get out of your hair. But if either of you ever want to talk about anything, I’m here. On top of being a mediocre cook, I’ve had my fair share of bumpy experiences. Just putting it out there.” Jess patted her thigh. “Come on, Ed Sheeran,” she said, and the orange tabby cat trailed after her.

  The name for the ginger cat made Maddox chuckle. And while he likely wouldn’t take Jessica up on her offer, it was nice to know there was one more person who cared enough to treat him like he was decent, regardless of all the mistakes he’d made.

  Weird to think that after a month at the ranch, he’d somehow gone from counting the days to wanting to slow them down. Part of that stemmed from everyone in the program being so damn nice—even talking to Nick was beginning to feel more like a relief than a burden—but most of it was due to the girl seated beside him.

  The one who accepted him flaws and all. The exact type of person Jess had advised him to hold on to.

  * * *

  After spending another half hour under the car, “helping” Maddox, Harlow dragged him toward the stables. It was high time they practiced roping, stage-rehearsal style.

  Harlow loved the way Maddox automatically laced his fingers with hers. The butterflies in her gut drifted in lazy circles, high on his nearness. “I can’t think of any more questions, so how about you just tell me something not many people know about you.”

  Her—dare she say boyfriend?—lifted a dark eyebrow. “Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence. You’re already so sure I’m going to miss that you’re preemptively asking me a question?”

  Harlow curled closer, studying the planes of his face, the slope of his nose, and those enticing lips—a handful of stolen kisses and she was already such a goner. “Our time’s running out, and I want to know everything about you. I hoped that by now I could ask without having to earn it.”

  As they stepped into the stables, Maddox glanced around. Then, in an unexpected movement that robbed her of breath, he pivoted her around, pressed her against one of the wooden posts, and slanted his mouth over hers. The rasp of his whiskers sent goose bumps skating across her skin, but before she could fully participate in the kiss, he withdrew and flashed her a devious grin. “You always have to earn it.”

  At first, she was going to give him her hard glare, but instead she decided to beat him at his own game. “What if I bat my eyelashes and say please?” She leaned in to him and ran a hand down his chest, going so far as to add a pout for good measure.

  Right as he touched his lips to hers, she jerked back. “Not so fast, mister. Where’s my secret?”

  He groaned and shook his head, but then he looped a finger through her belt loop and tugged her closer. “I take it back. Your tactics aren’t even a little bit sweet when it comes to getting what you want.”

  Her grin stretched so wide that her cheeks hurt. Finally, he’d admitted she was tough, although yeah, she was sweet, too. Even better, Maddox made her feel like she could safely show that side of herself without worrying he’d take advantage of it.

  A loud throat-clearing popped their intimate bubble. They jumped apart as Brady and Tanya descended the ladder in the corner.

  “What’s going on?” Brady asked.

  Maddox straightened and maneuvered Harlow behind him. “We were just coming to get the horses so we could practice roping.”

  “And you thought the horses were in each other’s mouths?”

  Harlow’s cheeks burned with the fire of a thousand suns. Busted.

  But then she noticed how harried Tanya seemed. How she was tugging at her disheveled clothes and all the strands of straw sticking from her red hair. “Looks like we weren’t the only ones.”

  Oops, I blurted that right out.

  Tanya and Brady looked at each other, guilty expressions on both their faces. Then Brady rubbed the side of his neck. “We were just, uh, grabbing something from the loft.”

  Since Harlow had already dug a hole, she figured she might as well keep digging. “Did Tanya fall? She’s got a whole bunch of straw in her hair. And your shirt is all catawampus.”

  Maddox whipped his head toward her. “Catta-what-now?”

  “It means crooked.” Harlow pointed, even though her mama had taught her better. “See how the buttons don’t line up?”

  Brady sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, we’re busted, too. But we’re consenting adults, and you two are minors who are in my care.”

  “It was me,” Maddox said, stepping forward.

  Harlow quickly stepped up beside him, desperate to keep him out of trouble. “No, I’m the one who practically begged him to kiss me. We just…care about each other.”

  “Brady, I really need to go,” Tanya said. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep, and I need to talk to you about something, but I only have five minutes to speed to the ranch or I’m gonna be late.”

  “Go ahead. I’ll come by after work.” Brady glanced at Harlow and Maddox, muttered something under his breath, and then gave Tanya a heated goodbye kiss.

  Harlow focused on the toes of her boots in an attempt to give the two adults their privacy. Fear was also slithering in and taking hold. On account of her being such a rule-follower, she rarely found herself in trouble and had never been much good at being bad. If an authority figure so much as sneezed in her direction, she caved and confessed, her guilty conscience assuming she’d done something wrong.

  All the same, Harlow couldn’t bring herself to feel guilty about kissing Maddox. He’d needed her and she needed him, and they had a connection that was real and intense and worth taking a risk.

  Although right now, she worried they
’d never get to kiss again.

  As Tanya walked by, she gave Harlow’s shoulder an encouraging squeeze. Then she glanced at Brady, mouthed words Harlow didn’t catch, and then sprinted across the yard toward her big red truck.

  Brady turned his full attention back on them as Tanya drove away, and in spite of the reason they were in trouble, Harlow grabbed Maddox’s hand and held on tight.

  The cowboy across from her pinched the bridge of his nose. “Tanya urged me to take it easy on you two.”

  “Can I vote for that option as well?” Harlow asked, swallowing thickly. Maddox stood like a statue by her side, not giving anything away but rubbing reassuring circles across her knuckle with his thumb.

  A sigh was their only answer for what seemed like forever but was probably only a second or two. “There’s nothing against you two liking each other in the rules, but I’ve got to bring it to the staff’s attention, and that means close supervision from here on out. It’s as much for your safety as anything. Like I’ve said before, I’m responsible for you both. So…” Brady took his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. “Until everyone else gets back, I’ll be with you while you train.”

  Not great, but also not the end of the world.

  Harlow cast a quick glance at Maddox, trying to silently assure him it would be okay.

  The tight smile he responded with spoke heaps of doubt.

  It’s all going to be okay. It’s all going to be okay. Just as Harlow’s screeching pulse was beginning to recover, Brady swung open the gate to CJ’s stable. Instead of looking at his buckskin horse, his eyes were on Harlow and Maddox. The grim set of his jaw sent a prickling sense of foreboding through her, and she tried to convince herself it couldn’t get any worse.

  But then Brady said, “And, Harlow, I’m afraid I’m going to have to tell your mom.”

  Chapter 23

  It was all Harlow could do to drag her tired self to her truck that evening. Brady had worked her and Maddox hard, not in a mean way but in a way that broadcast he was going to push them to keep them in line.

  On the upside, she and Maddox were hitting times only a couple of seconds slower than she and Bianca used to during their best rounds.

  On the downside, ouch.

  Maddox’s voice drifted over to her. “…just need to tell her something really quickly. I’ll remain at least two feet away and leave my hands in my pockets the entire time.”

  “Make it three feet,” Brady said, and Harlow turned to see Maddox moving faster than she could after their brutal afternoon, which was hardly fair when she’d been training for years.

  Maddox stopped way too far away, and she barely restrained herself from reaching out for him.

  “I had a little brother once,” he said.

  “The one you mentioned after you tackled that calf?”

  A smile spread across his face, different from any she’d seen before. Happy and sentimental, a hint of the carefree boy he might’ve been in another life. “Everett reminds me of him. When I was thirteen going on fourteen, I lived with this foster family for six months. I’d been in some bad homes, and I’d expected this one to be like those, but it…” His voice grew rough, his expression bittersweet. “It wasn’t. They were nice. Instead of letting my piss-poor attitude shove them away, they embraced me anyway.

  “And Jaxon.” The smile returned, so bright she felt its glow. “Day one he was calling me his big brother.” Maddox swallowed hard. “He was like pure energy. His mom was exhausted by it, so I was the one who raced after him. I’d do things like take him to the park so he could tire himself out.”

  The muscles along Maddox’s jaw flexed, and tears clogged Harlow’s throat as she watched him struggle with his emotions. “After six months of living with the Wagners, they asked if I wanted to be a permanent part of their family.”

  Everything inside her froze, because she knew this story wasn’t going to have a happy ending. Maybe she was a Disney girl.

  “I thought I was dreaming.” He gave a sardonic laugh. “In the end, that’s what it ended up being. Just a dream. Mr. Wagner was in the military and had received PCS orders to go to Alabama. My mom decided that would be the perfect time to make another attempt to get clean and check herself into rehab, so the judge awarded her more time instead of terminating her rights.

  “By that point, I didn’t believe she’d ever get clean. And while it sucks that I was right, I also didn’t want to have to go back to living with her, which makes me feel like I’m just as shitty at being a son as she was at being a mom.” Maddox shrugged as if it was nothing, so much weight on his broad shoulders.

  Tears burned Harlow’s eyes, growing hotter and hotter as she did her best to hold them back.

  “The Wagners had to move, and since they couldn’t take me across state lines, they left me behind.” Maddox clamped his lips, as if he was only now realizing how much of his past he’d spilled. “But that’s not the secret I wanted to share with you. I just wanted to tell you that once, I had a little brother named Jaxon and that I loved him. If I turn myself around enough, I’m going to try to find him. He probably won’t remember me, but I need to find him and see how his life turned out.”

  The dam broke, and Harlow’s tears ran warm trails down her cheeks. Yeah, it meant she’d broken her promise never to cry in front of him, but she was a different girl than she’d been a month ago, just like Maddox was a different guy.

  “Damn, Sugar,” he said. “I’m not going to tell you any more secrets if they make you cry.”

  “I just…” Harlow sniffed. She wanted to hug him so badly that her arms ached as fiercely as her heart. “I’m sorry, Brady,” she called in his vicinity. “I have to.”

  She took two large strides, closing the crappy three feet of distance between them. She gave Maddox a tight, super-quick hug before retreating a step.

  He reached out and wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. Then he quickly dropped his arms, plastering them to his sides. “Goodbye, Harlow Griffith.”

  It sounded so final, that goodbye. She refused to say it, because it wasn’t the end. She blew him a kiss. “Good night, Maddox Mikos.”

  Harlow hopped in her truck and headed toward home. She didn’t even make it halfway before another wave of tears hit her. She went ahead and let them pour, crying her heart out for the boy who’d lost a brother and his dreams in one fell swoop.

  No matter how mad Mama was or how hard it was to train with adults breathing down their necks, Harlow renewed her vow never to give up on Maddox, no matter what happened after he left the ranch.

  * * *

  “But they’re so good together,” Jess said, perching on the edge of the desk instead of sitting in a chair like the rest of the staff had done.

  Brady wasn’t a fan of these official meetings where they had to discuss punishment options and how to enforce the rules without losing the progress one or more of the teens had made. Unfortunately, the meetings were necessary to keep everyone on the same page. This one hit him harder, because he’d been the person who’d gotten closest to the teens in question.

  It’s always the ones you don’t expect.

  Prior to witnessing the kids’ exchange by the truck—before he’d seen for himself the unguarded emotion on Maddox’s face as he’d told Harlow whatever he had—Brady most likely would’ve argued against Jess’s point. He might’ve even suggested Maddox was taking advantage of a sweet girl.

  But some things you couldn’t fake.

  Brady slumped in his chair. “I know.”

  “Great. Now I’ve got two softies to deal with,” Wade said. Back in the day, he would’ve said it harsher, with more of a woe-is-me tone. Now he grabbed his fiancée’s hand and tugged her onto his lap. “But if we don’t keep control—”

  “Then what’s the point of them being here?” most everyone in the room finished a
long with Wade. This wasn’t their first rodeo when it came to teenage crushes and angst. Each situation was different but the same. No cut-and-dried answers, on account of life being too messy and complicated for that.

  “All this might be a moot point once I talk to Mrs. Griffith,” Brady said. The lady was fairly strict and had publicly fretted about the teens on the ranch being a bad influence more than once. He knew from experience the local teenagers got into plenty of trouble on their own and were rarely around the teens at Turn Around Ranch anyway. Save her daughter, because he’d hired her to be. “Unless someone else wants to talk to her for me?”

  Silence descended.

  Once the crickets stretched to the uncomfortable point, Ma said, “No matter what Mrs. Griffith says, it’s important to have a plan and for you to be able to tell her the precautions we’re taking.”

  As usual, Ma was right.

  Jess wrung her hands together. “It’s hard for me to remain neutral on this, because as I’m sure you all remember, when my daughter was the one getting kissed, I was pissed. But it’s not like Maddox and Harlow went off the property or broke any of the big rules, so I’m going to embrace being a hypocrite and suggest maybe the no-relationships policy needs to be updated.”

  Jess tipped up her chin so she could peer into Wade’s eyes and use her feminine wiles to sway him to her side. He responded with a sigh and a kiss to her temple. “The problem is, relationships often involve sex.”

  “That’s more of a bonus, if you ask me,” Jess said, her words on the flirty side. Then her eyes flew wide with panic, presumably because she realized she and Wade were hardly alone. “Oops. Can we delete that from the record?”

  Liza snickered and nudged Jess’s side with her elbow. “First of all, congrats on all the sex. As your friend, I’m saying it was about time for you. Not so much for the teens, though. And as we’ve explained before, we don’t have a court reporter typing up the transcript.”